Bingo!

Dave Mueller

While running down my list of new places to explore, I was not having much success. Lots of sweat and mosquito bites for little reward. Then… bingo! I’ll let the pictures tell the story.

Hard to photograph, but this is a large, deep aerial bomb crater in a coconut grove. Several other bomb craters nearby tells me that this was clearly a WW2 site.
Japanese cookware mostly rotted away to nothing. The cooking pot to the right is the same type I’ve found elsewhere in another Japanese encampment site.
This is a Japanese Sake bottle, one of several laying around
Japanese DaiNippon beer bottle, one of dozens scattered about
American canteens – still capped (but empty). You can also see two American bug repellent bottles in this image.
These WW2 American GI bug repellant bottles are very common. This one is still capped (the first I’ve found with the cap intact). It was still half full!
Expended American 105MM howitzer shells
Imperial Japanese Navy bowls
I found a canteen with trench art engraved on it. It actually had the owner’s name as well – when I looked him up, I discovered he was wounded in action on Guam in 1944. I donated this canteen to the Pacific War Museum and they will put it on display.

While exploring this area, I stumbled across two locals apparently camping in the jungle. Not sure if they were hunting, or collecting coconut crabs, but either way they startled me greatly. Since most of the birds are gone, the jungle is absolutely silent if there is no wind. All day I had heard sounds like breaking branches – like I was being watched. Very unnerving. I wrote it off as pigs. Then, while pushing through some dense overgrowth, pretty dark under the canopy, I see these two locals sitting on a log, watching me. Really startled me! They turned out to be friendly, but I left them alone and headed for home. I should have asked if they were staying in the area or if they were leaving shortly… but I didn’t want to pry (I imagine there are places in the jungle where people grow marijuana – I’ve never found any but it’s logical). Anyway, I still would love to explore this area further but the thought of being watched makes me uneasy.

I make lots of noise in the jungle on purpose, to let man and pig know I’m around as not to startle them. I wear bright clothing also, in case there are hunters around. I have run across hunters before and have found them very responsible and friendly… but every time I do it startles me because I’m usually way off the beaten path away from places where I expect to find people.